The GOP and Social Issues

Recently, we received a question from Michael, one of our readers from the U.K.

“What is the best response to people who say the GOP should abandon social issues and focus on the economy/fiscal issues?”

Thank you for asking this question, Michael. It’s an important question that needs to be answered well.We must remind people that social and fiscal issues go together like PB&J. They both work together and affect one another. Separating the two will make our side weaker in its battle to defeat the Left’s big government agenda and shut out our base’s voice in GOP politics.

Also, we need to tell people that socially conservative issues attract people from all walks of life.: March for Life,: March for Marriage: and: Love and Fidelity Network’s conferences: are great examples of that. I have attended March for Marriage and one of Love and Fidelity Network’s conferences, and noticed that they attracted a diverse crowd of people, including many young people. If the GOP is serious about improving its outreach to young people and different ethnic groups, it should not even think about abandoning social issues.

To best convince people that the GOP should not abandon social issues, we must explain to them that the Democrat Party’s stances on social issues are strongly connected with big government policies. As I wrote in my previous post, “: ‘Marriage Equality': Focus On It or Forget It?,” “marriage equality” is rooted in big government. It involves more government encroachment into the marriage business and family life. Ultimately, it creates a new definition of the family unit, undermining the best shield against big government–the natural family unit. This redefinition weakens the natural family unit’s role in preserving small government and sustaining our economy. Also, we must emphasize how the “marriage equality” movement poses a threat to small businesses that don’t agree with its message (i.e. Sweet Cakes). It achieves that by threatening them with lawsuits and punishing them with the government’s help. We must emphasize these points to people who are only focused on fiscal issues to make a stronger case for marriage and its preservation of small government.

In addition, we must make the connection between strong marriages and less welfare. We must remind people that marriage is the best anti-poverty program, because it best connects children to their parents and decreases their chances of living in poverty. We have seen that a trend of broken families and high divorce rates correlates with the growth of massive, inefficient government welfare programs. When the natural family unit was strong decades ago, divorce rates were down and people were less likely to depend on government financial assistance. Making this case, we can convince people who care only about fiscal issues that we must not abandon this issue if we want to curb welfare spending. We must also remind them that we are largely focused on restoring a culture of marriage on the local level to promote a stronger economy.

Besides discussing the marriage issue, we must explain to people the connection between big government and abortion, contraceptives, and sex education. We must discuss how it’s wrong for taxpayers to be forced to subsidize abortion and contraceptives, which is what Obamacare is unfortunately achieving. We must explain that more government spending for abortion and contraceptives is just as bad as directing more taxpayer money to inefficient, costly welfare programs. In addition, we must explain to people that taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize sex education in public schools. Instead, parents should be responsible for such education, which is what I have: emphasized before. Explaining the connection between big government and these three issues, we can show people that it’s wrong for more government funding to be used to promote the Left’s view on morality. Thus, we will successfully demonstrate that we largely advocate for cultural renewal on the local level, through the power of the family unit, parents, churches, private charities, and local communities.

Overall, the tie between big government policies and the Democrat Party’s stances on social issues needs to be explained more clearly, not ignored. Because many in the GOP are softening or abandoning their stances on social issues, we are losing many elections. When people see no stark contrast between the GOP and the Democrat Party, they see both are kind of similar and become discouraged. If we want to win more elections, restore America, and provide Americans with a better alternative to this administration’s vision, we must remind people that we need to be that strong contrast to the Democrat Party on socialand: fiscal issues.